Quad core vs 8 core

Get yourself a new single socket i7 system (obviously the faster the better) and stuff it full of RAM.

Get a couple of 1Tb fast SATA hard drives and stick them in RAID 0 - striped mode ...

Probably a 4870 X2 card would be nice if you can afford it.

If your considering getting a dual socket system the mobo, RAM and 2 cpu's will probably cost you at least a kidney and you would want to make sure the software you intend to use would make very good use of the second socket ... otherwise ... get a very good single socket system with all of the addons.

A dream machine ...

Look at the applications you intend to use and see what they say about using multiple cores for a start.

It is your money so do a bit of research on the applications you intend to use it for.

Hope this helps.

Good luck.

Although bear in mind that NVidia cards may have support in more programs through CUDA...

Note that, with Hypertransport, the i7 functionally already has 8 cores !

Also, the 920 has scope for overclocking to at least 3.4GHz and higher with decent aftermarket cooling.

Oh, and get 12GB of RAM... using DDR3 it is relatively hard to do 8GB unless you drop down to DDR2 mode. This is my pet peeve about the cheap Gigabyte Motherboard... it has 4 memory slots.

2x3x2GB RAM should cost no more than $220 or so.

I don't know if dual processor is ever really a good idea. You should wait until the 8 core processors come out.

Does anyone know when the 8 (physical) core processors are going to come out? I've read that Intel will go with 6 cores before 8 cores. Will the 6 or 8 core processors come out with the 32nm processors or will they be after that?

And Siggy19, I think it's hyperthreading not hypertransport.

Why? What will you do with 8? Most software doesn't take advantage of 4. The OS will be able to distribute processes across more cores, but I don't think you'll see much speed difference between 4 and 8.

Hyperwhocareswhatitscalled... ;-)

Quad core seems to be the sweet spot to me... single core sucks when your virus checker kicks in. Dual core is better, but can still be hurt by other threads. Quad core seems to be sufficient to ensure that at least one core is devoted to what you are actively running. More than Quad Core can be better still, but I doubt that it scales as well and you start to get into issues of having the overhead of managing all those cores.

But I will doubtless be proved wrong when Skynet Mk I is released and requires a minimum of 64 cores.

well i decided to get the i7 2.93 core with 8gb ddr3 and also a 4870x2 i think this would be good for what i want to do.....thanks for the input

WHY the 8GB ??? If you're going with the 4 slot Gigabyte motherboard, you may want to rethink that since it will cut the performance of the RAM to DDR2 mode.

Get a 6 slot motherboard (basically any other one) and either 6GB or 12GB of memory.

DDR3 only works if three (or a multiple thereof) slots are used.

the cheap gigabyte has 1 set of triple channel ddr3 and one single channel

DDR2 and DDR3 are different types of memory, not the abbreviation for duel channel or triple channel.

Your question doesn't make a lot of sense to me. There is no 2.26 i7 on the market. The lowest i7 speed is the i7 920 which is 2.66. And you say you want two of them in one machine? That doesn't sound right to me, unless your trying to run a server or something? Anyways a core i7 920 2.66 ghz is what you want. The core i7 940 2.93 ghz is a decent waste of money, due to the fact the the 920 can reach well beyond 3ghz with a simple overclock.

Actually, there is a 2.26 Xeon Nehalem that is coming out. Makes sense with the dual socket question too.

Do you... actually not know the difference between RAM and CPU cores...?

multiples of three is the magic number methinkx ... 2ok, 6better, 12greedy.

I do not understand the question.

The 4 memory slot Gigabyte motherboard has ... er... 4 memory slots. Sure the DDR3 memory will work in it, but if you populate all 4 slots, the (more expensive) DDR3 memory will behave like DDR2 memory, while if you only populate 3 slots, it will behave like (faster) DDR3 memory. Or at least, that is my understanding. I may be wrong and please correct me if this is the case. If my understanding is correct, 6GB (3x2GB) may perform as well or better than 8GB (4x2GB) memory. Of course, the simple solution (that will cost maybe $100 more) is to get almost any other i7 motherboard and populate all 6 memory slots to provide 12GB at full triple channel DDR3 performance.

As to how many CPU cores that relates to... it doesn't. The i7 has 4 distinct cores, but by using hyperthreading it can often perform like it has 8 cores. Again, that is my understanding and I may be wrong.

Wrong. A lot of DDR3 mobos have 6 DIMMS anyway, good enough for two triple channel setups.

If your referring to the Gainestown Xeon chips those are about 800$ for a 2.26 ghz. I highly doubt the op was referring to this. And you would know better than to recommend a dual socket motherboard to someone only looking at photo and music editing. dual sockets are targeted for servers not graphic designers. Even the most geared gaming rigs don't consider a dual socket motherboard, they are useless unless your running some type of server configuration all of which i stated in my last post.

Not exactly. The Gainestown E5520 2.26 quad is actually more like $380 or so, not $800 (a pair would be $800, but that's a different matter). I wasn't recommending it necessarily, but it is the way to go for a high end professional level photo video rig. It is more expensive than a single i7 setup though, and would only benefit fairly serious and continuous photo or graphic design type work, and is certainly not the best choice for everyone.

As for the OP, I would say that they certainly seem to be referring to this - there really isn't any other CPU out there that fits "two 2.26 i7". Your statement about gaming is completely separate - games tend not to be CPU bound, and even the games that are CPU bound tend to be bound by a single thread performance, not multithreaded, so a dual socket has almost no gains at all in gaming, while in something completely CPU bound and multithreaded, like some photo editing, graphic design, and video editing software, the gains are there and real from a dual socket. There's a reason the Mac Pro is a dual socket, and it isn't because it is supposed to be a server.

2 cpus = fail in regards to photo and music editing.

Not always, but you have to be doing certain specific things to be able to actually use it properly. In many cases, it won't be any faster.

^ god i want your cpu... just to say i have that setup.

I have to say, I enjoy it a lot  

It works beautifully for simulation and math software that I got it for (I'm an engineering student). It doesn't do half bad in games either  

yea because i need a computer good enough for graphic designs and music and photo becuae thats what im basically studying right now and i need a good enough computer to last me a while i was thinking about the new mac pro.....whats your input on that?

I wasn`t even aware there was a 4 slot x58 mob as salabarria decided to get, to be honest I dont see the point, why splash out all the $$$ on a i7 940 then ruin it with a cheap option motherboard, may as well complement it and get a 6 slot.

and also i havent bought the parts yet im still deciding if i should get a mac pro or not because a mac pro comes with all that software i need

mac pro would still cost 1000 bucks more than any PC setup. if it graphic design you should look inot the workstation graphics cards like the nvidia quattro or the ATI equivalent

hi guys, what about 3d applications such as Autodesk 3ds Max or Autodesk Maya? Since i will be using this softwares plus Adobe Premiere, After Effects and Photoshop, would a quad core be more suitable? i am currently planning of getting a laptop but am really really having a tough time deciding whether to go for a quad core or core2duo processor. My choices are:


01. Hp Pavilion dv7-1090 (18.4" )
- Nvidia 9600M GT
- Core2Duo t9400@2.5Ghz
- 4Gb ram DDR2
- 500MB Sata


02. Hp HDX X18-1175 (17" )
- Nvidia 9600M GT
- Core2Quad Q9000@2.0Ghz
- 4 GB / 8 GB (max) DDR2 SDRAM
- 1Tera Storage Capacity


does this core2quad outperforms the core2quo in the specs that i've posted for 3d applications like 3ds max or Maya and games? does the core2quad have the advantage?


i've read this from a different forum


"Benchmarks
Benchmark results for 3D Games shows Core 2 duo has a very slight advantage over Core 2 Duo Quad running at 2.4 Ghz. PCMark05 System Benchmark and CPU benchmark shows Quad has a big advantage over Duo (System: 8031/7260 and CPU: 7726/6127). 3DMark06 Graphic Benchmark also shows that Quad have the advantage over Duo (10194/9120). Using 3D Studio Max 8.0 rendering a single frame HDTV 1920x1080 (dragon_character_rig) Quad takes 54 seconds to render while Duo takes 1 min 36 seconds time. There's not much of a difference between audio and video benchmarks (XviD,.DivX, Lame).


Sysmark 2007 Preview shows Quad leads the score over Duo:
* E-Learning: 143/141
* Video Creation: 167/134
* Productivity: 135/134
* 3D: 144/129
* System: 147/134


......to make it short get a quad core.


Data sources from Tomshardware.com "


honestly the only reason why am planning of getting the much more expensive and heavier Hp HDX X18-1175 is due to the fact that it has a core2quad processor. Its hefty price is about $3,245(converted to $ currency) compared to the Hp Pavilion dv7-1090 $2,537 (converted to $ currency) aside from 3d, i would also be using it quite intensively for games such as FEAR, FARCRY2, CRYSIS etc..


is the Hp HDX X18-1175 worth the price?


thanks!

I think you talked yourself into the quad.

Next ...

but is my decision right to get the quad for a hefty price?

Yes, but you'd be quite a bit better off getting a much cheaper laptop and a desktop for that kind of cash.

thanks for the input. the reason why am willing to pay for a laptop this expensive, provided that it's worth its price, is because i want to be able to continue office works (3d animations) when am in a friends place or when am mobile, most of the time i am, and at the same time do freelance 3d works. I also want to be able to play today's games at a decent graphics settings.

I've read good reviews for the Hp HDX X18-1175. Personally do you recommend a coe2quad processor over a core2duo for 3d applications?


thanks!

Yes, no, kinda, and kinda.

You are confused between dual and tripple channel mode and DDR2 and DDR3. X58 and Corei7 are designed to support 3 channels of DDR3 memory, where as AM3 socket PhenomII are designed for 2 channels of DDR3 memory. A 4-slot i7 motherboard isnt going to 'behave like DDR2', its simply going to downstep to dual-channel mode. Tri-channel shows a win in synthetic benches, but I havent heard any real life advantages yet. (at least not for mainstream use, maybe in servers)

In summary, tripple-channel memory is a feature of Corei7, not DDR3.

Thanks... sure enough, I thought DDR2 was dual channel while DDR3 was triple channel but could drop to dual channel (or single channel) mode if a multiple of 3 memory slots were not populated and would functionally behave like DDR2 in that case. I did not realise that there was any benefit in running DDR3 in dual channel mode over running DDR2.

what if i put 7gb of ddr3 memory in the four memory slots would it run triple channel or would it drop down to dual channel

No, it will not run triple channel with 4 DIMMS. It can only run triple channel in multiples of 3, i.e. 3DIMMS, 6DIMMS, 9DIMMS, etc. The board claims triple channel support, so if you buy a 3x2GB kit, you can go with 6GB of RAM pretty easy. If you want more than 6GB, you can either do 4x2GB for 8GB or 3x4GB for 12, but the latter Im sure will cost you both kidneys and your liver.

oo i get it...thanks

Also, you should realize any octo-core purchase requires a matching contribution to the octo-mom since the general public is already tired of supporting her 14 kids with foodstamps and $1.5M hospital bills.  

Seriously, I would get a D0 stepping i920 and oc it on a good mobo, 6 or 12GB of 1333 or better, a couple of 1.5TB drives. 4870 and Windows 7 (since you are supposedly able to strip out a lot of the junk - er, features that come with it). Most mobos come with OK to decent 7.1 onboard audio, so with a lot of storage, DVD burner and a bluray reader and maybe a HD ATSC/QAM tuner with DVR software, you have the makings of a decent HTPC as well as a game machine. That's pretty much what I'm planning to do (4870X2 however) once my tax refund ship (rowboat?) docks next week  

I would have done it earlier but my wife had a herd of cows over my purchase of a plasma TV last month so now I'm under house arrest  . Sheesh, and I thought I was making a heroic sacrifice for the improvement of the economy! Go figure!

if i wanted to upgrade a small business server (running Server 2003), seating 30 - 50 users (usually around 25 active), would it be worth going for the i7 setup, or would quad-core prove a better match?

given the network size, would it be worth upgrading to Server 2008 on an i7?

With the servers I have built, processor speed was not as much of a factor as hard drive speed & memory capacity. Regular quad would be fine.

thanks for the input - would you say it's worth upgrading to Server 2008 with an i7 (we need it mostly for file sharing, backup and some SQL between a couple of users with engineering software), or is that just costly overkill?

Im not much of a fan of your "elite" attitude. for audio editing an 8 core Xeon 5500 "Nehalem" system is important for running an apogee I/O card in Logic or ProToolsHD. this allows for Linear Tracking of live recordings with multiple software plugins. an 8 core system allows for up to 74 tracks running .05 seconds latency with 5 plug ins per track with the older "Harpertown" set up and even more using the Nehalem.

mac g4 processors used something known as "Altivec" processors which ran at 128 bits allowing for up to four 32 bit threads to be processed in one cycle! SSSe3 is incorporated into the Nehalem processors allowing for 128 bit processing giving the ability for two 64 bit threads to be processed per cycle. the virtual cores are only organized system instructions preventing the cash from dumping and uploading between major program instructions. the "Virtual cores" allow the SSSe3 to be taken advantage of fully by lowering latency and allowing more information through and the SSSe3 to thread two 64 bit threads simultaneously using multiple platforms. ie WINDOWS and OSX at the same time, Nuendo and final cut pro studio 3 and after effects etc etc. also, the Nehalem set up eliminates the I/O giving the cpu direct access to the ram, dvdrom, usb 2.0 devices etc etc. bi directional interconnectivity allows for lower latency and an increase in clock to clock speeds over previous gen cpu. Xeon 2.26ghz 5500 8 core is the equal of a 2.93ghz harpertown 8 core for instance in single thread clock to clock bench marks and when running multiple render intensive tasks is as much as 100% faster. so for film editing, music production and post. and 8 core system is actually pretty important. more tracks means less destructive recording ie "Bouncing tracks" please understand that you don't know everything8)~ just as i don't know everything! but if i don't know something i'll ask instead of just throw my opinion in as fact. we have all heard that saying about opinions being like @$$holes~

Intel and AMD already have six-core CPUs. Intel sells $2000+ Xeon MP 74xx six-cores, while AMD sells a line of six-core Socket F Opterons for $455 on up to over $2600. Intel and AMD are going to launch 8-core server CPUs in the next month or two. Intel's is the Beckton Xeon MP on LGA1567 while AMD is introducing the Socket G34 Magny-Cours 8- and 12-core CPUs.



The 2.26 GHz units he's talking about are Xeon E5520s, which are for all intents and purposes, a pair of 2.26 GHz i7s with an extra QPI link activated. I wouldn't recommend overclocking a unit that's going to be doing real work as overclocking can introduce instability and possible errors into the results. You want a very stable system running at stock if you're going to be doing real work on it, and a pair of E5520s on a decent dual LGA1366 board would be very appropriate.



Yeah, no kidding. I say she should get a job instead of collagen injections into her lips. I'm working my butt off trying to get a good job and she's kicking back living on our tax dollars  



If he's just video editing, a 4870 is probably overkill unless he has some program than can use ATi Stream or OpenCL or other GPGPU functionality. I'd also recommend against overclocking for the reasons I said above.



Yeah, but you have to look at your own personal economy first. You and I can't run up huge deficits, unlike the federal government. You probably teed your wife off because you spent money she probably had earmarked for some shiny piece of jewelry on that TV  

The post date checking fail is strong with these ones.  

Sorry, I just saw the topic at the top of the forums list and replied before I'd checked the OP's post date.

I wanna necro post too.

Don't make me slap you.  

Excellent advice, I myself have got a 2 x quad Mac Pro and a single socket Quad. To tel the truth I don't see much difference, but memory.

This zombie thread keeps returning from the dead...

EVERYBODY -- RUN FOR THE HILLS!!!  

Wow..What the??Already 50 posts..